Strong second half lifts Generals over Arrows in back-and-forth battle

Saturday

Feb 19, 2011 at 5:02 AM

By CHRISTY JOHNSON

The Daily Record, Wooster

WOOSTER -- Wooster's boys basketball team reaped the benefits of listening to its coach at home Friday against Ashland.

After the Generals started the game shooting 0 of 9 from the field (0 of 6 from the perimeter), Wooster flipped a switch. The Generals put on their turn signal toward the paint, taking it hard to the hoop to come away with a 50-47 Ohio Cardinal Conference victory.

"We came out shooting the ball cold, so I told them we needed to start attacking the basket," said Wooster coach Craig Martin, whose team improved to 9-9 (7-6 OCC). "We stopped shooting the ball from the outside and started to attack the basket, and when we started to do that, we gave ourselves an opportunity to win."

"They've really improved since the first time we played, but so have we," said Ashland coach Tim Fralick, whose team beat the Generals in their first meeting, 66-59, but fell to 2-16 (2-11 OCC) after Friday's loss. "We knew it was going to be a good game."

"Our defense is based on being in the gaps, so tonight was not completely different from what we usually do," Fralick said. "We wanted to force them to shoot contested outside shots, and we did a better job of that in the beginning of the game than we did at the end."

Both teams struggled from the floor all night, as Wooster finished 16 of 49 from the field (33 percent) and Ashland was 15 of 40 (38 percent).

Lalonde was the offensive star for Wooster. The 6-foot-5-inch Air Force recruit poured in 18 points, including an impressive slam dunk in the second quarter.

"We didn't want Lalonde to touch the ball, and it's a really difficult job to do," Fralick said. "We were able to have some success early on with it, but then he made some big plays going down the wire. He's a really good player."

Luke McGee pulled down 10 rebounds for the Generals.

Much like the team's first game, in which Ashland made nine 3s, the Arrows were hot from beyond the arc and hit eight more Friday. Nardo led the effort with a double-double of 11 points and a game-high 16 rebounds, while Gallaway and Bernhard scored nine apiece.